A Hero is lifted from the mob. A hero lives a mundane existence as do we all, until circumstance blossoms the heroic out of the mundane. The successful story focuses upon the period when the heroic is rising, for it is boring to focus upon the mundane which is the greater temporal reality. However, the mundane must be sprinkled into the plot, to make a contrast. If a story is boring, perhaps it lacks focus upon the temporal span of the heroic period and gets lost in the mundane.
“A Hero is lifted from the mob. A hero lives a mundane existence as do we all, until circumstance blossoms the heroic out of the mundane. The successful story focuses upon the period when the heroic is rising, for it is boring to focus upon the mundane which is the greater temporal reality. However, the mundane must be sprinkled into the plot, to make a contrast. If a story is boring, perhaps it lacks focus upon the temporal span of the heroic period and gets lost in the mundane.”
That’s spot on. After the heroic period, though, when he goes back to the mundane everyday life, that itself must be transformed from what it was before. Now I understand what I was doing with my characters in United America: 2014 (by Ben Maxwell—buy it now!!) It starts out with the hero living in Manteo, NC, doing his everyday thing, separated from his wife, when he meets his old war buddy Percy from Gulf II, and the adventure begins. Percy later proves an evil conspirator, tries repeatedly to kill him and his pals, only to be ripped to shreds by the parents of a troop of boyscouts he had killed (believe me, it’s a long story). At the end, after all the adventures, he’s back in Manteo and reunited with wify, at the site of his demolished old house, trying to build a log cabin. All his old compatriates show up on time to help him birth his third son in the basement they are using to shelter themselves from Hurricane Percy. He’s back in the mundane, but now he has real friends, to whom he can give his back, and together they can handle anything.
That’s all that’s missing from your formula. At the end of it all, the hero has to be moved, made stronger/wiser somehow, and his life must change even if it returns to the mundane.
One of the themes of Arabian Nights and other such folktales. Stories told to poor children who need to believe there is a chance however slim of becoming a prince or princess. Often it is the third child who is written off but makes good by being morally superior.
Too much analysis delays writing. However, what is written might be an actual contribution to literature. Remember that art moves way ahead of criticism.